Words of wisdom
by kaylacalin
Summary: Laura and Clint don't know how to help Natasha And then Steve Rogers just did something.


**Requested by Sportsfan64**

 **~marvelhottie2**

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After the loud gambling of words and the exchanges of questions and answers, they parted ways inside Clint's farmhouse and started cleaning themselves and dusting their minds away from the illusion that the Maximoff, Scarlet Witch put in their heads.

Laura sees her husband shrugging and sighing deeply. He has bags under his eyes, his fingers are trembling and she bets his muscles feel sore. Clint washes his hands slowly, his eyelids are fluttering down.

She slowly approaches her husband, and when she consumed enough space to touch his arm, she gradually faces him to her to catch his eyes. His blue eyes are grayish and his eye lids are glowing red. For a moment, Laura wants to pull him back under her caress and never let him go back in the field. She knows it's impossible, Natasha told her she'll get use to it soon, but it's difficult to see your husband with cuts and bruises every times he comes home.

"Stop thinking too much, it's not good for the baby." Clint gestures towards her bloated stomach. His voice is tired and broken, but he clears his throat as if trying to recover his voice.

"How could I not? I don't want to reach to the point when I'll receive a delivery of a dead body." She said. Clint refuses to argue with her, depressing the mother of his unborn child is the last thing he'll do.

Clint rubs her shoulders, soothing her down as he kisses her forehead lightly. "I am fine, and I'll do my best not to die."

Laura laughs a little bit, gently punching him on the chest. Clint smiles at her, trying to encourage her about his condition. Being married to him gave Laura time to study his movements, she's smart, not just an ordinary housewife who's at home only to take care of her children. She caught the glimpse of sadness that momentarily appeared on his constricted eyes. Laura sighs, feeling the swirling pool of disappointment in the pit of her stomach.

"Something is bothering you, am I right?"

Clint scratches his head and slumps his shoulders backwards. Something is bothering him but it's not something that involves him. He maybe just a friend to her, but Natasha is like a sister to him and her problems are his problems.

"There's this girl who poisoned Natasha's minds, and that triggered her fears once again." He confesses. "Laura, I may be her best friend, I may know her so much but I suck at advices. Gosh, I don't know how to help her."

He rested his back on the kitchen counter, eyes are on the floor. He's so tired he'll probably melt on the floor and fall asleep. Even Laura can't help her, and Natasha told Clint to never mention anything about the red room to her again because it's too dark and scary, Natasha doesn't want to depress her with her problems.

"Neither of us can't help her now, maybe we need somebody else to help her." Laura requested.

The sudden intrusion of the idea brought light in Clint's head. How could he not think about that before? Laura never fails to surprise him with such clever ideas; though it is generic but maybe he only needs her to remind him about the easiest and most possible exit.

Just as he leisurely roams his eyes, his gaze stops when it found something interesting. The small scene he can barely see from the living room seems to play the scene he was visualizing.

Natasha was there, peacefully examining her fingers but her mind is focused elsewhere, and Clint knows because she never been this vulnerable before, he did not expected her to be this lonely. She looks smaller in her grey sweat pants and Laura's black shirt.

And a sudden blonde super soldier appeared to sit beside her. He was wary at first but Steve gently places his hand on her moving fingers. Natasha unhurriedly turns over her head to look at him in the corner of her glassy eyes.

The sadness on Clint's face is washed away. "And who can help her then?" Clint says though he knows the answer.

Laura pauses for a minute. "Maybe Dr. Banner?

Clint laughs for the first time since he arrived. If Laura could know the reason why, she won't even think about that senseless idea. "No Laura, No." Clint rubs her shoulders again and gestures towards the living room. "I want you to take a look at that."

And they did watch the movements of the soldier and the spy, though their conversation is not audible.

"Everything alright?" Steve said, his voice is slurry.

Natasha deftly removes her hands out of his grasp. Steve's hand immediately backs away but that didn't stop him from scooting nearer to her petite form. She let out a frustrated sigh when she felt his hot breath on her neck. She can't possibly look into his eyes without the urge of wrapping her arms around him to feel secured; it's his stupid blue eyes fault.

"It's just a short flashback that brought my memories back from those dark days." She said simply.

Unsatisfied with her answer, Steve pulls her red hair strands behind her ear to see her precious face. Red eyes with dry tears welcomed him; even her cheeks and nose are swollen red as she tries hard not to cry. Her reputation is one of the things she holds as a person, and she can't lose that if she drops a single tear. But Steve, no matter what she looks, do and say in front of him, she'll always be the Natasha Romanoff he met on the hellicarrier.

"You are the most stubborn woman I have ever met." He said. As hard as it is, Natasha finally makes eye contact with him. His blue eyes lighten her up just a tad bit. "The red headed killer you are talking about in the red room is the woman who saved millions of lives countless of time. You are the independent, strong woman who mirrors herself with a humongous monster she isn't."

Natasha never knows how Steve's tongue could say beautiful and positive things when everything is black and white. She opposes the tears that are ready to drop from her green-grayish eyes with her pinky finger. But she could never deny the sniffing sound that intends to be heard.

"Stupid." She says under her breath.

The frown and the worries disappeared and were replaced by the intensity of his smile. "Come here."

Natasha gives him her seductive smirk before the corners of her mouth are raised in a sign of approval. She showed her affection by putting her arms around his torso, and as she buries her face on the crook of his neck, a lost unknowing tear left her grounded eye. She sniffs once more and rubs her eyes brutally against his skin.

Steve dutifully rested her hand on the small of her back and the other went around her waist to secure her in his arms. His eyes went hazy when he smelled her remarkable scent, he kisses her temples before he pulls her to his lap, massaging her back and feeling the line of her spinal cord.

"If you want, I can watch you in your sleep to kick your nightmares away." He said on her hair.

Natasha stifles her laugh against his clavicle as she punches his chest. "How creepy Rogers. I would agree especially if you are the one who watches me in my sleep."

Laura was impressed at the Captain's movements. Natasha is the kind of person who kicks other people's asses when they are pestering her about her problems. But Steve handled her like he has been doing it for years.

"It's his goody goody attitude that can make Natasha act like that I guess." Clint said.

"He's a keeper." Laura commented.

Clint gave her an approving smile. "Has it ever occurred to you Laura that she never mentions Banner in any conversation she had with us and the kids?"

Laura smiled from her realization. Sometimes the puzzles pieces are scattered and lost, the only way to solve it is to find the pieces and put them back together. Natasha Romanoff is indeed, a mystery.

"Now that you mentioned it, she never did mention his name." Laura stops to think deeper. "But Captain Rogers is often present in our topic, and when Lila and Cooper fought; she tells them that Captain America is not going to be please if he sees them now."

"I knew she have something for that spangled guy." Clint said. "Banner and Romanoff? Please, that would be out of the blue." He mumbles.

"Aunty Nat, Aunty Nat!" the couple heard the small, high pitched voice of their daughter Lila from the distance. They decided to leave the Captain and the spy and refrain from eaves dropping on them (Though Natasha noticed but she told herself to ignore them for a while.)

Natasha pushes Steve away from her, and faces Lila with an assuring smile. When she can still feel Steve's arm on her waist, she tries to shrug it off but Steve remains stubborn. He gave her a teasing smile and she just rolled her eyes. Natasha smiled again when she faces Lila.

"What is it honey?" she said.

Behind Lila, a dark headed boy appeared with a paper in his hand. Cooper carefully handed Natasha the drawing on his hand. Natasha looks at Steve before taking the paper with her. She found herself in her cat suit, holding Steve's shield on her left hand, and she found Steve with her widow bites. Natasha smiles softly, and she couldn't be more proud by the appreciation of Lila and Cooper of her relationship with Steve. And it also means that Captain America stayed within their hearts though they never met him yet until now. The Steve ruined the moment:

"Wow, Aunty Nat has the same skills as you guys." Steve exclaims.

The Barton children laugh at the pathetic joke Steve pulled off. Natasha laughs fakely and elbows Steve on his stomach, and she couldn't deny that she felt his abs. "You know what Rogers; I know that I have bad skills at art and you are the artist type. You don't have to rub that on my face."

Steve gives her a wide grin and Natasha gives him her evil glare that makes everything all interesting. "But you know what guys," he calls the attention of Lila and Cooper who immediately stop from laughing to listen to him. Natasha's jaw drops at how fast Steve got them. "Aunty Nat may have bad skills at drawing; but it doesn't mean that both of you have bad skills at drawing when I compare her to you." Natasha groans as Steve continues to grill on her.

"But you know what? As much as Aunty Nat tries to hide it, she cooks very well." Steve proudly said. Natasha stares at him completely, memorizing the way his lips move as he continues. "She can defeat your father and the other avengers in any kind of game. And she is smarter than I am gonna be."

Lila giggles at her Aunty Nat when she found out that she is a great cook, and Natasha is sure she'll be asking her some of her Russian cuisines. But that didn't bothered Natasha; the thing that bothered her is when Cooper asks such question to Steve:

"Uncle Steve," he hesitates at first. "Do you like Aunty Nat?"

At that moment, Natasha isn't sure how Steve would answer that. He'll be a bad example if he lies and she'll be hurt or surprise if he answers truthfully, either way, she's nervous on how this conversation would end.

Natasha forgets that she's still seated on his lap; she only remembers it when Steve slides her down on the soft sofa beside him, but his arm remains on her waist. "Natasha is very likeable, any person who crosses path with her will definitely like her, and you guys like her don't you?"

The Barton children nodded perkily, but that didn't ended the interrogation, and it was Lila's turn to ask, she's more straight forward than her older brother.

"Do you love Aunty Nat?" she asks Steve.

The only answer Lila and Cooper get is the suspicious eye contact they made after that, they'll tell their parents about it soon.


End file.
